Proprioception

Proprioception is the sense that provides information about the position, movement, and mechanical state of the body and its parts. It allows the nervous system to estimate where the limbs and trunk are and how they are moving, often without relying on vision. Proprioceptive information contributes to both conscious body awareness and the largely automatic control of posture and movement .^1,2

Important sources of proprioceptive information include sensory receptors in muscles, tendons, joints, and skin. Muscle spindles provide information related to muscle length and changes in length, while Golgi tendon organs provide information related to forces generated through the muscle-tendon system. Rather than relying on a single receptor, the nervous system integrates activity from populations of sensory afferents to estimate properties such as limb position, movement, and force .^1,2

These sensory signals contribute to spinal, brainstem, cerebellar, and cortical processing. Some proprioceptive information contributes to reflexes and automatic adjustments of motor output, while other signals contribute to conscious perceptions such as position sense and kinesthesia, the perception of body movement .^1,2

Proprioception should not be treated as synonymous with balance. Proprioceptive signals contribute to postural control, but maintaining balance also depends on other sensory information, particularly vision and the vestibular system. Proprioception specifically concerns sensing the body's own position, movement, and force-related state and using that information in sensorimotor control .^1,2